BMO Capital Markets Raises CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target to $64.00

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price target boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $63.00 to $64.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on CMS. UBS Group downgraded shares of CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised CMS Energy from a peer perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $62.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $62.73.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:CMS opened at $59.55 on Wednesday. CMS Energy has a one year low of $49.87 and a one year high of $63.76. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $17.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 11.89%. The business’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 68.44%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.78, for a total value of $202,230.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,985,144.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter worth $26,000. Covington Capital Management bought a new position in CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Clear Street Markets LLC raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 94.9% during the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CMS Energy Company Profile

CMS Energy Corporation operates as an energy company primarily in Michigan. The company operates through three segments: Electric Utility; Gas Utility; and Enterprises. The Electric Utility segment is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. This segment generates electricity through coal, wind, gas, renewable energy, oil, and nuclear sources.